Sontag's interests have also been extremely diverse. She began writing In America in 1993, but was interrupted for three years when she traveled to Sarajevo to fight for human rights.
Sontag said she plans to continue writing rather than pursuing political action for the near future.
"I'm back to writing," she said.
She did say, however, that she would continue petitioning for the rights of women in other countries and would remain politically involved.
Sontag acknowledged that In America has been criticized, citing one writer who claimed that Sontag did not present any new ideas about America in the book. But she said there are no new ideas about America and that it is not the novelist's job to create idea-driven writing.
"[Fiction should] create a mental, physical, emotional world that dilates your sympathies...and [that] conveys and inculcates wisdom about our humanity," she said.
Sontag said her book, which is based on a true story, is nevertheless a fictional work. She said that for this reason, she "writhes" when she hears the book referred to as a historical novel.
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